Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1887-08-19
A LAUGHING WORLD.
DIFFERENT WAYS THE NATIONS
HAVE OF SHOWING VISIBILITY.

ington's Laugh-The bible aud Poets
Use Of the Word.
Oi the worlds population those who do
not laugh are IL is safe TO assume In the
minority. Laughter is n language known
To all races in all lands. From the re-
sounding 'haw haw" of the male New
Englander To the high strung cachlnna-
lloh OF the South sen islander, there may
DE as wide range of intOnation ana OK
preston rs there il OF chronological posi-
ton; but rs rule laughter means but
one thing-thc tickling Of the fancy Of the
person who laughs. Six years ago Beecher
asked from lecture platform in New
York II any Of his hearers had ever heard
u chinese laugh, the question being
| wordcd In way intended TO imply a
negative answer. That the Celestial can
| ana does give vent 10 his mirthful feel
| lngs after the manner OF other mOrtals
can readily be attestcd by any one who
has long resided in san Francisco To be
sure, the Chinese laugh is rarely as hearty
or expressive rs the American or
European. II is oftener litter than a
genuine outburst Of merrimcnt There |
| Is little character or force in it, As for |
the Arabian laugh, we hear little Of its |
hilarious ring through the ages Of mlrth |
| in the Old World. The Arab is generally |
looked upon as n stolid fellow-a man |
likely 10 persist in refusing 10 give one the |
| benefit OF mirthful appreciation Of a |
joke, even il he saw the point Travellers
say, however, that he docs laugh on occa-
| sion, but that he must either see good rca.
son for it beforehand or be surprised into
II. In Persia man who laughs is con-
sidcred efiemnate, but free license is said
TO be given To female merriment. Fred
Burnaby has written of his experiences
among the laughing beauties OF certain
district in the northern part OF that country
He says that under cover OF the good nature
implied by their pretended jollity, they
make bold 10 fitch everything n traveller
may have in his possession. One reads If
the grave Turk and the sober Egyp-
tian, but 1t not recorded that they never
have moments Of mrth-when the fcz
bobs or the veil shakes under pressure of
some particularly good thing In Ma
homet himself Christian writer's have
noted cordiality and jocoseness, and they
say there was good ringing laugh in the
prophet with all his seriousness.
An American traveller in Europe re-
marks the Italian laugh rs languid but
musical, the German rs deliberate, the
French rs spasmodic and uncertain, the
upper class English rs we'll guarded and ,
I4ll
lish rs explosive, the Scotch of all classes ,
ms hearty, and the Irish rs rollicking ,
There is much that is indicative Of char ,
acter in the laugh Of some people. while ,
IN others OF strong personality the laugh ,
Is the weakest and most charactcrless !
thing about them. Ii is said of Nelson I
that his laugh was often without spirit I
Napoleon laughed little. and not ALWAYS :
At things in which men OF his command ,
ing dignity might be expected TO find my I
thing funny. When Washington cared to !
break through his natural reserve he
could laugh rs long and ms loud as any
one, but his biographcrs record but few
instances OF the display OF popularity on
the part OF the father OF his country. A b
president docs no, cut very II
dignifed figure before one who IS i'm Il
pressed with the belief that sedatencss ia o
a necessary attribute Of governments "
chief executive, yet Lincoln made bold 10 II
laugh whenever he chose, always wecom- IA
ing good story teller and relating With v
much good feeling droll tales of his own o.
life. Webster could tell n good story. p
often ut his own expense, and Join heartily Ii
with his hearers in the laugh at The end u
lie had true laugh. There are those u
men, as Carlyle has tritely remarked :
whose laugh - as untrue as anything
about them.
In the Bible the words LAUGH"
daughter" and 'laughing" occur only
thirteen times, which, while in keeping IL
with the gravity Of the text is considered N
y some commentators as rather singular.
Milton nnkes little Use Of the word in
iis works. Shakespeare employs il fire.
luently ana often systematically. Ten
tyson : men and women laugh intro
iuently, although they sometimes smile.
Dickens made n great deal Of the laugh.
nd often managed thereby 10 give the
eadcr n Clew to the character of his men y
nd women Y
Like the careful student of human ma N
nre that she was, George Eliot made note
I the thousand and one ways In which
haracter discloscs itself through the
Medium Of the laugh
In this merry age n good laugh Is proba-
~ enjoyed rs much rs it ever was i'm the
'orld's history But what would make q
IAN laugh ten or twenty years AGO cannot
. relied upon 10 do so now Practical
'kcS, Tor instance, are no longer popular,
ild witticisms Of the studied order. even
comic opcrn or burlcsque, often fail Of
ppreciatiOn. And there is the difference
national taste 4 joke that sets an Eng 9
shm1n or n German roaring is nine
mes out Of ten voted tame, if not stupid.
the American. Our modern wits rely
- upon cap and bells than upon keen
ltro and quick rcpartcc The laugh NIL
ms created is always spontaneous, and
neither IN senate chamber or court of
IStice II is irrepresSiblr.
Men betray or commit themselves by
eir laughter rs often rs by ANYTHING q
knew | Ind only to wait until hc n
ughed TO tell if he were lying" said u IL
eat English philosopher Of man whom 4
had suspected Of classifying in an I'M
'rtant matter. The knavc's laugh Il
id To be cunning, the fools shallow the v
cOar'c, the lunatic's wild aud "
caningcss II a man would not disclose ""
; character let him not laugh. lIc may ,,c'
nuiatc good nature and even friendship oio'
smiling, but he should beawnre II -
dihly expressing his real or pretended
nth. for there are those--and they are
necessarily deep students 81 human
ture who know that the true laueh q
mes only from the true man san